Rock drilling equipment



Feb. 9, 1954 A. CAMERON 2,668,690

ROCK DRILLING EQUIPMENT Filed April 9, 1951 4 sheets-sheet 1 Inventor ALE XANDER CAMERON A ttorn eyS A. CAMERON ROCK DRILLING EQUIPMENT Feb. 9, 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet Filed April 9. 1951 lfiventbr DE n CAMERON Attorneys ALEXAN 3 7 Feb. 9, 1954' A. CAMERON ROCK DRILLING EQUIPMENT 4 SheetsSheet 3 Filed April 9, 1951 Inventor ALE XANDER CAMERON BY W Feb. 9, 1954 A. CAMERON ROCK DRILLING EQUIPMENT Filed April 9, 1951 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Inventor B AIEXANDER CAMERON '7 (3M TM;

A Horn eys Patented Feb. 9, 1954 ,Alifil 26, 1950' s mmune;-

-; This-'inv ntion relates to eq ipme tjoy 'i'dtai y rock drilling particulaily-fonuse 1ir'1-"undeig'1 ouM workings, qr fdr re1iminaiy work tunnel driving." it is' further concerned with s] callefd' manual-force 'feed, a-p'pl-ian'ees "for drilling ples in rock fages; ,Byimanual qperatidn it is found that indrilling; "sueh 'hqles; particulalfly in f hard rock'-faces,a single workman Or'indeed twio 'vvork men dper'ati'ng 'joi'ntly cannqtst'eadily apply the necessary *pres'sin eTequiredfin afhahd drill. W In force feed 'wo rking-thereffbre, the r 'a'ctidn pressure due to"the :feeding 10f the drill'i's sustained by a prop, and the drillissuppo'r'ted by a jifeje'd spindle or baraleng whigh the drill ispi lled. The "obj ect of 'thjiniientiqnlthereiore, fis tdfprovide a manualairilling;installatio ri which is convenient to 'set uma andj n whi ht w v li and "ease'pf operation are inereas'edfas ,finuc'h "as possible," and: the invention particularly 'jaijms at such'an inst'allatibn inwhicjh flanking holes can be drilled around a given pointfin-the rock face without fresh settings, and "in' which manipu'la tions for inserting "110GB [of ,jsueeessiyely" ihc'rfea'singflengths'ican b'e efiedted in the "simplest and promptnessof fashions. I

; According to the present inventic'm, a drilling equipment is 'l'set. up on. iailfix d: "r am pro ij'to which the drill and, its support, a're'fpi "d'sl n snchfa waiy that i't 'eanbiol erated at ng'les htlxf n 'd tothe hpri dnt l 15. h t. hQl can'be drilled ab'pve and below thehbriz dntal' line with, a single? setting; The feefd spindle 01: bar is" madewjextensible s'b 'that'by thejsimple mani'pulati'on Ia, 'steadyat' the' forward fend ,of V the .feed spindle or bar, can be readily brought into en-' gagement with the roclgffacfe either on the horizp'ntal line jorjat points on eithei jsi'de bf it [In order that 'th invention may be ele'arly understood and "readily carried into 'eff e ctgan example of a f 'rc'e' fe'e'cl'equipment-for rock drillin'g' in 'accqrdan'ce with the "present invention, will now be more fully de'sgiribed with reference to'the accompanying drawingsyin'which I Eigure 1 isaside elevation f the equipment;

prop "shown in section *on the line "II-II ,in Figu'rex'l; I. L,.:,. r I

' Figure 311s aside'el'evat ion t9 an -e' nla'rgedfsqale of the steady pbin't of the feed-bar and its sp'ring shownpartly'incentral-section Figure; is a detailedrear eleyation seen in-the direction of the arrow-IV-ln -1Ifigu1fe2;

Figure is a centralvert-icalflengitudinal sechorn-showing"the forwarding mechanism and the registering device f0r'the feed bar; moan-enlarged scale;

ej1:;.- Mamet din, TynegEnglajnd, assiknor 0 W s mm 1.

ii' li afi n 'e in" (chase-e3 Figure 6 is' a vertical tra sverse section taken ferwafdingmeehanisni.

tgi Figures- 1 an the drilling equipmentjis 'set "hp-en =a frear 'pr'op wh h; the xamp e i' u' t te -P' i t-s e tubefiz vv defliw hlwpi plate 3-and an innef'telesebping be; It fi ttef afspiked robi ,pla 'te 5." 'fIhe-pafpan pa or lowered by a handle f6 whiqh rotates n i a t 9x i? plates -3 anc1 4 ean'befibrced intq 'enga e fi h fiw rand oi. 19 t e. e l ne 1 P 1 "firm wre Th 1 .1. 11W ed in the adjusted pos'itibnby a inelnngpaw ht p oi t'ed near its jifeaf end I La i t 1 0 'a fl't eji diber o be to, eghor n a p p wh m ii. i v

dril 9.1 above lrbelew h icee e li .Q' h

clamp: 12. The r nq intling liVand ieed" ba'r 9 oya ac of e dherfl J ai ar l e t fiyj r i ether 2| softhat the fe'edh'ar 9 slidefin'theftWbe Z'O;

latter is rotated the feiedjfbar fwith i The-gear end-of the tube '20 is d 'w'ith; a flange 2; shown I in contact with the irbnt end at the housing In. The tlibe 211 supports inbearings; a '-pini0n'-23 in engagement With-the teeth 254 of the;rack bar!!. The spindle but whenjthe l 25 bf; thepinio'n n has squa'red-ends "26 to feceive a v-1 erriova1cile fcrank handle 'such as is 'seen at '21 in "Fi gm e l and Figure 7;- endmdntains a on'e Way 01; ratche t bhitch eon'iprising hatchet: teeth.

R formed-{on itsbqss-and pawl slideilfaleiTin the handle "and pressed-"by a' cornpressib'n spring 3 30 into engagement with the ratchet teeth 29, so that by rocking the handle 21 to and fro as shown by the arrow 3i in Figure 7, the pinion 23 can be rotated. It is arranged for the pinion 23 to be locked from backward rotation by a spring pressed pawl 32 shown in Figure 5 pressed into engagement by a. sliding plunger 33 pressed forward by a spring 34. However, the locking pawl 32 can be withdrawn by swinging over thehanclle 35 to the position shown in broken lines in Figure 5 when the spring L34 holds the pawl in the disengaged position. By this means the tube 20 can be pressed back against the tubular transverse pivot 5'! passing between lugs 58 which mounting l and by continuing. to rotate the pin ion 23 the feed bar 9 can be racked forwardly to cause a steady pin 36, seen in Figures 1, 2 and 3,

to engage the rock face 31, whereupon the pawl 32 is engaged and prevents the feed bar 9 from.

moving away from the rock face 3'1.

As best seen in Figure 3, the steady pin 36 is carried at the forward end of a stem 33 which can slide in a bore 33 at the front end of the feed bar 9, and the steady pin 36 is pressed forwardly by a strong coiled compression spring 40 engaging under the head of the pin 33 and against the front of the feed bar 9. However, as the latter is moved forward and pressed against the rock face 31 as already described, the spring 4:) is compressed and holds the pin 3t against the rock face. The stem 38 is guided by a set screw 4| engaging a key way 52 in the stem 33, and incidentally limits the stroke of the stem 38 and prevents the spring M; from entirely ejecting the steady pin from the bore 39 in the feed bar 9. The drill proper -53 (Figure l) is held in a chuck 44- mounted on the driving shaft 45 in the front of the drill housing 33. The shaft 55 and drill 43 may be driven by an electric motor carried in the housing 66 through suitable reducing gearing, the electric motor being supplied through a trailing cable 47. The drill housing 46 is supported by a pair of lugs 63 secured to a tube d3 connected by a parallel key or feather 50 to the feed bar 9. Behind the housing 43 and abutting against the tube 49 is a tube also connected to the feed bar 9 by a parallel key or feather 52 so that both the motor housing 45 and the tube 5| can slide along the feed bar 3 but are constrained to rotate with the latter. 5! supports a pinion and spring controlled looking pawl, as already described for the tube 20.

The squared ends of the pinion spindle 53 appear at 53a and are engaged by the handle 21 which is of the construction already described and can be rocked as indicated by the arrow 54 in Figure 1. By making the parts of the tubular housings 2i) and El and the driving mechanism carried by them identical, the number of necessary different parts is reduced and the same crank handle 21 used for pressing the feed bar 9 forward can also beused for pushing forward the tubular housing Stand (thereby, feeding the drill 43 into the rock, since the two operations of course never have to be conducted together. It will be appreciated that while the pinion 23 has to be rotated counter-clockwise, that on the spindle 53 has to be turned clockwise. This, however, can be eifected by the same handle 21 as the direction of drive can be reversed merely by taking off the handle 27 and turning it back to front before replacing it.

The feed bar 9 can be rotated in the tubular mounting but when so rotated it causes the tubes and 5| and the motor housing 46 to turn with it, and as the drill 4 3 is off-set from the axis of the feed bar 9 it mean that the drill canbe The tubular housing stand up from the tubular mounting H), so that when the feed bar 9 is turned into one of the desired positions the latch 56 is turned by a handle 59 into engagement with the corresponding notch 55 and then locks the feed bar 9 in the de sired; angular position. In the example illustrated there are only four notches 55 shown mutually at right'angles so as to provide four angular positions for drilling, but obviously a greater number of notches may be provided in the flange 22 if conditions demand it.

The drill rods or tools 43 can clearly be changed rapidly without disturbing the general setting up of the equipment, for example if a hole has been drilled with'a three foot drill rod 33, this rod can be uncoupled at the chuck '44, the handle 27 removed and, with the locking pawl in the housing 5! disengaged, the drill housing 46 with the tube 5i can be quickly drawn back, the drill rod 43 withdrawn from the hole in the rock face and a longer drill rod inserted in its place. The drill housing 56 is brought forward again and the longer drill rod 43 coupled up to the chuck 54 ready for further drilling.

I claim:

1. A rotary rock-drilling equipment comprising in combination, a fixed supporting prop, a tubular mounting secured to said prop, a drill feed bar formed with rack teeth and mounted to slidein said tubular mounting, a rock-engaging steady pin resiliently mounted at the forward end of said feed bar, a first pinionmeshing with the rack teeth of said feed bar and journalled to thrust against said mounting when rotated to press said feed bar forwardly, a drilling unit supported on said feed bar and mounted to slide thereon to and from said rock-face, a second pinion meshing with the rack teeth of said feed bar and journalled to feed said drilling unit forwardly When rotated and a ratchet handle formed to engage alternatively each of said pinions to rotate the respective pinions in one direction.

2. A rotary rock-drilling equipment according to claim 1, also comprising a sleeve splined to said feed bar and located immediately in front of said tubular mounting and formed with bearing for said first pinion and a second identical sleeve splined to said feed bar and located immediately to the rear of said drill unit but reversed with respect to said first-named sleeve and formed with bearings for said second pinion.

3. A rotary rock-drilling equipment according to claim 2, also comprising manually-operated meansfor locking said first pinion against rotation.

4. A rotary rock-drilling equipment according to claim 1, wherein said feed bar is mounted for rotatable adjustment in said tubular mounting and said drilling unit is splined to said feed bar and bears a drill chuck offset from said feed bar so that the drill chuck acquires a fresh setting on adjustment of said feed bar and said drilling unit, said equipment having means for maintaining said feed bar in adjusted position.

5. A rotary rock-drilling equipment comprising in combination a fixed supporting prop, a tubular mounting secured to said prop, a drill feed bar mounted for rotatable adjustment in said mounting, a sleeve adjacent to said mounting and splined to said feed bar and rotatably adjustable therewith, a drilling unit splined to said feed bar so as to slide thereon to and from the rock face to be drilled and bearing a drill chuck offset from said feed bar so as to acquire a fresh setting on adjustment of said feed bar in said mounting, locking means carried by said sleeve and said mounting, engageable to maintain said sleeve and feed bar in selected angular adjustment with respect to said tubular mounting and means for feeding said drilling unit along said feed bar towards said rock face.

6. A rotary rock-drilling equipment according to claim 5, wherein said locking means comprises a notched flange coaxial with said sleeve and a transversely pivoted latch engageable with the notches of said flange to maintain said sleeve in a definite angular adjustment with respect to said tubular mounting,

ALEXANDER CAMERON.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,502,383 Guerrini et al. July 22, 1924 ,632,400 Gilman June 14, 1927 2,057,832 Jeffrey Oct. 20, 1936 2,575,097 Cole Nov. 13, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 111,892 Australia Nov. 21, 1940 

